|
Sugar farmers in florida fight cafta { July 6 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7ccaf32c-edbb-11d9-9ff5-00000e2511c8.htmlhttp://news.ft.com/cms/s/7ccaf32c-edbb-11d9-9ff5-00000e2511c8.html
Sugar farmers sour Florida's faith in Cafta
By Andrew Ward
Published: July 6 2005 03:00 | Last updated: July 6 2005 03:00
Belle Glade, a farmingtown on the edge of the Florida Everglades, is only 90minutes' drive from Miami but the two places feel as though they are on different planets.
Miami is one of America's most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities, its skyline pierced by the glass offices of international banks, the towering cranes of its busy port and the luxury apartment blocks of fashionable South Beach.
In sleepy Belle Glade, surrounded by alligator-infested dykes and swampy sugar cane plantations, the tallest landmarks include a whitewashed church steeple, the golden arches of a McDonald's outlet and the chimneys of a sugar-processing plant.
Miami and Belle Glade represent opposite sides of the fierce political battle raging in the Sunshine state over the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta), which was approved by the Senate last week but faces a more uncertain vote in the House of Representatives sometime this month.
Florida's business community, concentrated in Miami, is overwhelmingly in support of Cafta, which will reduce barriers to trade and investment between the US, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. But the deal is opposed by the state's powerful sugar farmers, based around Belle Glade, who say it would threaten their livelihoods by opening the US market to cheap sugar from Central America.
It is adebate echoed across the US south, where the protectionist instincts of traditional sectors such as agriculture and textile production clash with the interests of newer parts of the economy, such as financial services and technology.
Cafta is a relatively small deal. The six countries involved have a combined economy about the size of Indiana's. But winning congressional approval for the agreement is crucial if President George W. Bush is to have any hope of securing domestic backing for bigger trade pacts, such as the Doha round of World Trade Organisation negotiations and the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the proposed pan-American agreement.
Florida is at the heart of the conflict over Cafta because, as the US's commercial and cultural gateway to Central America, it conducts more trade with the region than any other state. Collectively, Cafta countries are Florida's largest export market, accounting for $3.2bn (€2.7bn, £1.8bn), or 11 per cent, of its exports in 2004. That dwarfs the 1.9 per cent of total US exports that went to the region last year.
However, Florida is also the biggest sugar-producing state, responsible for about a quarter of national output. Sugar farmers are among the most powerful forces in state politics, none more so than the Fanjuls - considered the first family of Florida sugar - who donated $431,000 to political candidates in the 2004 election cycle.
Florida's two senators - Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez - both defied the sugar lobby by voting in favour of Cafta and Governor Jeb Bush is strongly in favour. But many of the state's 25-strong congressional delegation are either opposed or undecided. "We are making sure all representatives understand a vote for Cafta is a vote to send sugar farmers to the unemployment line," says Phillip Hayes, spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance, an industry lobby group.
Critics accuse the sugar industry of exaggerating the threat posed by Cafta. They say the additional imports allowed by the deal would amount to less than 1 per cent of domestic sugar supplies. US consumers stand to benefit from a more open market because they pay more than twice the world market price for the product.
Supporters of Cafta complain that the industry's influence far outweighs its importance to the economy. Sugar accounts for less than 9 per cent of Florida's annual agricultural revenues and about 2 per cent of agricultural jobs. "The sugar industry is holding the rest of Florida's economy hostage," says John Price, president of InfoAmericas, a trade consultancy.
George Foyo, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce president, cites banks, legal firms, education providers, software developers, telecommunications operators and logistics companies as those eager to do business with Central America.
"The benefits of trade agreements tend to be widely dispersed while the costs are concentrated on specific industries - often those with a loud political voice," says Tony Villamil, chief executive of the Washington Economics Group and a former US undersecretary of commerce.
Mr Villamil says the importance of Cafta to Florida stretches beyond trade. "We are part of the neighbourhood so the extent to which an agreement can increase stability and prosperity in the region is good for Florida," he says. "If we don't do this, China and the European Union will step into the breach and we will lose business and influence on our doorstep."
|
|
